Friday, 14 October 2011

There is a quietness and simplicity about Laura's photographs which draws you in and then, pow! Each one rolls over you like the sun rising up in the early morning bringing much needed warmth with it and slowly your whole body is infused with a glow as all the aspects of the photograph unfold before you and your mind begins to question and possible answers throw themselves up for consideration, examination, elucidation.

l liked all the images she sent to me after our shoot. l adored some and l chose this as my favourite. Those eyes that she asked me to direct at the lens seem initially to challenge but then there is the realisation that they are saying ''welcome to my misty, mysterious world - come in, the water's fine. Weird and strange, but fine.'' l seem crowned by a mystical ruff of space and time, of light and darkness. The water is indeed fine but how deep and what lies beneath? My illness is represented as a brilliant wash of texture and light but with hidden dangers made more easily dealt with due to the power of the mind behind those eyes to see light where there is darkness, answers where there are questions and beauty where there is ugliness. You, the viewer may well have been in that deep lagoon yourself before or you may not have been there and can only imagine what lies beneath the surface. Either way, you are prepared to trust the possessor of those eyes, those thoughts, those ideas, that knowledge, to lead you through the murkiness to find a piece of cool, clear water in which, at least for a few moments or at most, for a lifetime, you can join him whilst he flips and plunges, floats and ponders, dives and rises up towards the sun on his journey through uncharted waters of emotion, elation and discovery.

With grateful thanks to my great friend, Peter, for the use of the venue.